


It started in a sandbox

by nerdlife4eva



Series: Crusaders of Fluff! [14]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Babies, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Ambassador Parents, Babies, Celestino is Phichit's nanny, Childhood, Fluff, Friendship, Hiroko is an ambassador, Humor, They are all ridiculously adorable, Toshiya is a stay at home dad, Yakov is Victor's nanny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 19:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13371771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdlife4eva/pseuds/nerdlife4eva
Summary: Babies Phichit and Yuuri meet in the sandbox, where they attract the attention of 3-year-old Victor. The rest is history.Want to see the amazing art by magical-mistral that inspired this story??? ClickhereIf you like this AU and would like to see more, let us know!!





	It started in a sandbox

**Author's Note:**

> This is all because my partner in fluff [Magical-Mistal](https://magical-mistral.tumblr.com) wanted to draw some babies ;) To see all of our collaborations, please click through the entire Crusaders of Fluff series! 
> 
> Outside of the series, our collaborations include:
> 
>  
> 
> [Domestic Life series](http://archiveofourown.org/series/674243)  
> [Crop Top Distraction](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11653155)  
> [Snow Day](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11653221)  
> [Dinopapasauras](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11574564)  
> [Keep Calm and Belly Dance](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11652960)  
> [When you wish upon the stars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11497113)  
> [Happiness Comes in Waves](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12434301/chapters/28299633)
> 
>  
> 
> If you want to come see us on Tumblr, or request a story, you can find us here:  
> [Magical-Mistal](https://magical-mistral.tumblr.com)  
> [n3rdlif343va](https://n3rdlif343va.tumblr.com)

It had started on a late afternoon, in the middle of April when the spring rains had finally begun to dry out and the soft colors of spring were bursting forth from the ground in the form of baby flowers. After months of being cooped up in the indoors, the playground was filled with parents and children absorbing as much of the sun’s light as they could before the next round of rainfall.

Phichit, round with one-year-old chub, sat happily in the sandbox, pushing a red truck between his legs and making bubbling noises to soundtrack his game. The sound of another diaper-padded bottom plopping down next to him had Phichit pausing to stare at the dark-haired baby with the watery brown eyes. With a concerned pout, Phichit pulled another truck from the pocket of his overalls and sat it on the sad baby’s lap.

Yuuri looked at the toy being pressed into his chubby thigh, momentarily distracted from the abandonment thrust upon him by his father. Still hitching with the small hint of tears, Yuuri wrapped his fingers around the truck and lifted towards his mouth.

“You don’t eat it, silly baby!” Mari announced, bending down next to her brother. At five years old, Mari was as fond as she was annoyed by her baby brother. Covering his hand, she pushed the truck toward the sand. “Vroom, vroom!” Mari said, pushing the truck back and forth, making both babies laugh. Rolling her eyes, she kissed the side of her brother’s cheek and ran off for the swing set.

“VOOM!” shouted Phichit, forcefully driving his own truck as far as he could reach and startling Yuuri with his cry. Turning to grin at his new friend, Phichit’s lip also poked into a pout seeing the tears back in Yuuri’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Toddling across the sand, three-year-old Victor dropped to his knees next to Yuuri. “Don’t cry,” he said, patting Yuuri’s head before squishing his cheeks. His nanny did the same thing to Victor whenever he was upset and the method seemed to work on the small chubby baby. “I like your truck!” Victor announced, pointing to the yellow truck still clutched in Yuuri’s hand. He laughed and nodded when Yuuri held the truck into the air with an excited wave of his arm. Smiling between Phichit and Yuuri, Victor settled at their feet. “Be friends now?” he asked, his head tipped to the side with a happy smile. Both babies cooed back at him, a garbled mix of potential words that Victor pretended to understand.

A few feet away on a worn wooden bench, Toshiya watched the interaction closely. He couldn’t help his small chuckle as he watched Mari intervene with another set of boys on the top of the swing set, shoving the more aggressive of the two down the slide with a declaration of “pick on someone your own size!”  

“She’s a fireball,” commented the man sitting next to him, gruff in his appearance but kind in the smile playing at the corner of his eyes.

“That she is,” Toshiya laughed. “Completely different, my two. My daughter is fearless whereas my son, even for a baby, is exceptionally timid.” He watched as Yuuri continued to respond to the other two children near him, smiling quietly at the happy look on his son’s face.

“Hm,” the man next to him said. “Victor has trouble making friends. His parents travel so often, we’re never in one place long enough to establish any roots. Here is where we have been the longest, but his preschool teachers say he struggles.”

“Victor is with my Yuuri right now?” Toshiya watched the gentle way the older boy was talking with both babies, struggling to imagine a child with such gentleness having trouble making friends.

“Yes, that’s him,” shifting on the bench, the other man extended a hand toward Toshiya, “Yakov, by the way. Victor is my charge. His father is Ambassador Nikiforov.”

Accepting the hand shake, Toshiya nodded his head. “Toshiya. I’ve met his father. My wife is an ambassador as well. Hiroko Katsuki.” There was obvious pride in Toshiya’s statement, his chin going up as he spoke of his wife. She was well-known as caring, but she also fought for the rights of their country and advocated with an elegant grace that had earned her much praise. He wondered briefly if there would be a comment about his role as a stay-at-home father, and felt the tension in his stomach ease when Yakov’s smile became more relaxed.

“Ah, yes, Ambassador Katsuki is a wonderful woman,” Yakov nodded, glancing back toward the playing children. “You know, if you are going to be here in the States for the entire summit, perhaps we can schedule more time for the boys. It seems they have taken a liking to each other.”

“Let me get in on that!” came a booming noise, a hand clapping down on Yakov’s shoulder loud enough to make Toshiya jump. Glancing over his shoulder he spied a slightly younger man, long pony tail hanging down his back, grinning with the same good humor with which he spoke.

Sighing, Yakov raised a hand toward the man behind them, “Toshiya, this is Celestino. His charge is Phichit Chulanont.” Waving his hand toward the baby making bubbles with his spit and letting Yuuri pop them with his fingers.

Toshiya recognized the surname, instantly reminded of the constantly joking ambassador from Thailand. He knew that the Chulanonts had older children who had remained behind with their grandparents, but he hadn’t realized that their youngest had traveled with them. Seeing Yuuri giggle with the silliness of the youngest Chulanont, Toshiya turned to reach his hand toward Celestino. “Nice to meet you,” he said, gripping the other man’s hand tightly. As the happy squeals of the three boys continued to roll from the sandbox, the three men discussed the next time they could get the new friends together.

* * *

 

Friendship came to them easily, on the building blocks of love for baseball, poker, and strong alcohol. The summit days were long and while normally Toshiya would have spent them entertaining his children alone, he was happy to find companionship in Celestino and Yakov. Whether it was trips to the zoo where all four children happily exclaimed at each animal, or mornings in the hotel pool, the adults and the children were quickly building relationships made to last a lifetime.

The Nikiforovs had invested in a property stateside and this is where they generally found themselves during the evenings of their longest days. Children happy and fed were left to amuse themselves inside of the safety of the play octagon with Mari outside the barrier where she was allowed to play with her own toys. The men usually convened around the large television set or at the dining table, alternating between cards and whatever baseball game was occurring that evening.

Mari sat with her legs swinging at a little table, eyes glancing to the babies only when they made enough noise to distract her. They were surrounded with toys, and while Yuuri and Phichit only knew a few words between them, Victor chattered away incessantly, narrating all of their little baby games. Rolling her eyes, Mari yanked on her head phones, burying her nose toward her coloring page.

“Fuff, fuff, fuff!” Phichit sang, bouncing his toy hamster up and down. He had a tiny version of the toy’s face stamped on the front of his overalls and he lifted the plush hamster to kiss the hamster face on the bib of his pants. Giggling with his own silliness, Phichit squeezed his hamster before using the toy to bop Yuuri on the nose. Yuuri giggled, pulling his face back, reaching out with a finger to poke the embroidered hamster on Phichit’s pants.

“Yuuri!” Victor called, his voice high-pitched in the same way he had grown to always say Yuuri’s name. He had tried to convince Yakov to let Yuuri live with them instead of with his sister, still pouting over the rejection of the idea. Waving the stuffed dinosaur toward his favorite friend, Victor smiled as Yuuri crawled toward him. “Want the dino?” he asked, reaching out to ruffle Yuuri’s hair as the baby grabbed the toy from Victor’s hand. Laughing, Victor watched Yuuri crawl away dragging the dino. “You have a doggy on your butt, Yuuri!” Collapsing into giggles, Victor rolled on the floor.

Yuuri laughed, the tiny baby laugh that made his cheeks turn red, despite having no idea what Victor said. Everything Victor did made Yuuri laugh, and Mari had pouted about this exact point on more than a few occasions. From across the room, her frustrated huff reemphasized her irritation.

“Doggies on my butt too!” Victor proudly announced, standing up to pull his shirt and pants off. Wiggling his butt back and forth near Yuuri’s face, Victor proudly showed off the Dalmatians covering his big boy underwear. “Underwear is stupid though,” Victor declared, slipping them off and throwing them over the edge of the octagon. “Nakey is better!” Putting his hands on his hips, Victor began to march around the perimeter of their play area, unabashed in his naked joy.

Chewing on his finger, Yuuri watched his favorite human wiggle his naked butt. Cheeks red from laughter, Yuuri plucked at his own pajamas, trying to unhook the snaps without success. Pouting in Victor’s direction, Yuuri whined the noise that had been generally assigned to the other boy.

“Mr. Yakov! Victor’s naked!” Mari yelled, without getting up from the table, only mildly interested in the situation. She stuck her tongue out at Victor when he glared in her direction.

“Again?” Yakov called from the other room, appearing at the door with a sigh. “Vitya, nakedness is for alone time. Let’s put your butt away for now, ok?” He reached into the playpen, attempting to lift Victor to redress him as Victor attempted to squirm away.

The toddler screeched, “Nakey is better! Nakey is better!” as Yakov wrestled him into a set of pajamas, snapping them on backwards to ensure that Victor couldn’t escape his clothing again. With an amused roll of his eyes, Yakov plunked Victor back down with his friends, telling him to call if he needed to use the potty.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Victor pouted, mumbling, “Nakey is better” under his breath. His grumpiness broke when Yuuri crawled into his lap, patting Victor’s cheek and laying his soft head of dark hair on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m glad you agree,” Victor said, hugging Yuuri close to him and smiling when Phichit crawled over to join them.

Two hours later, they had fallen asleep in the midst of the plushies and toys, Phichit laying belly down over his stuffed hamster and Yuuri lying with his cheek pressed into Victor’s belly. Toshiya took pictures, sending them off to his wife before gently pulling Yuuri from Victor’s side and taking Mari’s hand to take them back to their own hotel for proper bedtime.

Although their time in the States soon came to an end, the friendships between both generations had been built to last. It had all started in the middle of April, with the promise of new beginnings clinging to the wings of spring butterflies, and was destined to be a story that lasted the rest of their lifetimes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my amazing beta [atelerixe](https://atelerixe.tumblr.com) for putting up with my "exchanged" fingers ;)


End file.
